You waited for Youngjae at the bus stop near your house, as promised. He came a few minutes later, huffing and puffing as if he had just ran a marathon before. You laughed at his sight as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead.

“Yah, why did you run? You’re all sweaty now,” you pointed out as you started to walk in the direction of school. You took out a small square towel from your bag and passed it to him.

“I don’t want to keep you waiting,” he said, taking it and wiping his face with it.

“How thoughtful of you,” you said sarcastically. “I just gave you one of my favourite towels because of that!”

He took out a bar of chocolate from his bag and passed it to you. You looked at it as you took it from him.

“What’s this for?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to give that to you,” he smiled at you. “In return for your towel.”

You continued staring at the chocolate bar, a sense of déjà vu hitting you all of a sudden. As you walked along that street, you got reminded of how Daehyun would do that on random days as the both of you walked to school together.

“Chocolate for you!” he would say cutely as he presented it to her.

“Again?” you would say every time.

He would then nod with a wide grin on his face, delighted to have given you something. You would then take it and plant a kiss on his cheek, which would always cheer him up.

“That’s what you wanted right?” you would raise your eyebrow at him.

“Aniyo,” he would pout as he shook his head.

Then he would lean in closer to you and whispered in your ear. “I want a kiss on the lips.”

You were snapped out from your thoughts as you heard Youngjae calling out your name a few times. You looked at him and noticed he was pointing towards something. You turned to see Yongguk walking from the other end, with a group of girls following behind him as usual. He noticed you and for a moment, he made eye contact with you before entering the school without any expression.

“He really does go to school here!” you uttered.

“Didn’t I say so? Jaa, let’s go before the gate closes!” he said, grabbing your hand as he dragged you away.

You followed him hand in hand through the hallway as you felt the stares of girls around you. Youngjae was quite popular in school too. Looking at the standard in your school, he and Daehyun were actually considered one of the more good-looking ones in school. Because it was a known fact that Daehyun was already dating you for a few years, their next target was Youngjae. You sighed heavily as Youngjae kept his hands in yours even though you were trying not to be so physically close to him in school. You had suffered enough while you were dating Daehyun.

“Youngjae-ah,” you called out, tugging your arm back. “Stop.”

He looked taken aback at your agitated expression and let go of your hand. You glanced over at the girls around you who were already whispering about to themselves. You had always been good at blocking them out. But just then, you heard a particular comment which made you instantly tear up.

“Hasn’t Daehyun oppa just been gone for a few months? And now she’s already moved on to Youngjae oppa? Oh how pathetic! Moving on to his own best friend? Ah, how I hate her so much!”

You froze on your spot as you felt your face heating up. Youngjae must have heard it too as he quickly glared at whomever that had spoken that comment out loud. He looked at you worriedly but you couldn’t meet his eyes. You turned your head away and ran off towards the rest room, just as your tears fell. You didn’t notice Yongguk standing in front of you as you were looking to the ground, and bumped into him. You looked up with your wet eyes and saw his agitated face. But his expression quickly changed to a concerned look before you apologized and ran away.

You quickly washed up and tried to calm your mind before stepping out for our first class. Outside, you noticed the hallway was cleared of people as the first period was nearing. However, you noticed a familiar guy leaning against the wall outside the toilet.

“Yongguk-ssi?” you called out.

He shot up from your sudden call and cleared his throat. “Ah yeh.”

You greeted him before walking off for your first class. But instead of going his separate way, he followed after you. Taken aback, you stopped in your tracks.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

He stuttered over his words nervously. “I was just.. I wanted to make sure you were okay. You seemed upset just now.”

“Ah that..yeh, I’m fine now,” you answered politely.

You glanced over at the clock on the wall and realized you only had a minute left to reach your classroom. Noticing your expression, he smiled awkwardly before backing away. You felt guilty for rushing him away so you called out to him.

“Yongguk-ssi,” you called out. “Gomawo.”

You noticed a shy smile from him before you had to run off to class.